Kildare and the GAA are set for a standoff as the Kildare County board have confirmed they will not play their fixture against Mayo in Croke Park.
Earlier today, it was announced that the Cavan vs Tyrone and Kildare vs Mayo round 3 football qualifiers will be held in Croke Park next Saturday, 30th June at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively.
Statement: All Ireland SFC Series Round 3 Fixture ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/noK390802O
— Kildare GAA (@KildareGAA) June 25, 2018
Kildare manager Cian O'Neill also appeared live on RTE News calling on the GAA to play the game in Kildare's home venue of St Conleth's Park.
We were drawn first out of the bowl. The rules clearly state the first team drawn out has a home venue. Unless they are playing a Division four or three team, they have home venue. That's exactly where we will be on Saturday night. We will be in St Conleth's Park. We will be togged out. We will be ready to go. That's our home venue. We earned it by winning our last two games on the road. That's not going to be taken away from us.
Kildare manager Cian O'Neill tells RTÉ his players will be in Newbridge on Saturday evening, not Croke Park pic.twitter.com/2qxU3cqBKf
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) June 25, 2018
Cavan's Kingspan Breffni is currently under development and therefore could not host Tyrone. Thus, it was decided that those two games would be combined for a doubleheader at HQ. A GAA Spokesperson claimed the moving of the Kildare game was due to capacity concerns.
It's a capacity issue. There were over 11,000 down in Semple Stadium at the Mayo game at the weekend and Newbridge can take 8,500 when it's unreserved (seating).
There are 3,500 season tickets in Mayo alone. The CCCC met today and the fixtures have been announced so they are not going to change them. They're not going to take it out and leave Cavan versus Tyrone as a single fixture. The game has been fixed and tickets are issuing.
Tickets for the game have already gone up for sale online.
